It’s been a hustling, bustling Christmas season. Often overwhelming, the past month was filled with shopping, wrapping, driving to and from holiday parties and activities and, maybe, even working a few extra hours to help pay off those Christmas packages.

There also are pressures far and near that take a little of the cheer out of the Christmas cheer.

Those presswures may include a relative serving our country abroad, a nearby loved one consumed by disease or just the daily grind of life and what it does to us.

It’s no wonder many can’t take the time to feel the holiday spirit.

So, stop … Let’s take a moment to take it in a little.

Maybe you’ll recall Christmases past … the smell of cookies baking in your grandma’s oven; your face pressed against the car window as you drove around with your family and checked out the twinkling lights of decorated homes; trying to figure out where your parents hid the presents they bought you. Attending candlelight services and commemorating the birth of Christ might have been a big part of your holiday, too.

Even though you know you have to, you can’t sleep on Christmas Eve. You doze off, wake up in the middle of the night and then you trying to figure out if you should wake your parents (and you always do).

In the morning, your family opens presents, have breakfast together then head off to a relative’s house for more presents and more food until you collapse from exhaustion.

Perhaps you know the joy of Christmas present ... the satisfaction of helping someone who needs a hand during the holiday; the eager anticipation of a child’s wish; or awaiting the arrival of a relative who has been gone for holidays past and is now coming home. It is these moments we treasure forever.

Which leads us to Christmas future. New memories will be created today, but not if we are buried in that new gift we received, and not if we are consumed by the commercialism that seems to rule the season.

So, let’s enjoy today. Take time to savor conversation with relatives and to play with children. Keep the Tweets, emails and text messages to a minimum so as to stay in the moment.